Better Late Than Never

I was going to do this post as a Wordless Wednesday, but I thought it needed a bit of explanation.

My aunt gave me a Christmas lily bulb when she was visiting for Thanksgiving. She gave me very brief care instructions and told me that it would bloom by Christmas.

I took it home, carefully followed her instructions and waited. A few days later, the stem started to emerge from the bulb. I waited some more.

And waited.

And waited.

Christmas came and went without so much as a bud on the end of the stem. I was just sure that I'd done something wrong and that it would die rather than bloom.

Wednesday, January 26, it looked like this:

Yesterday, January 27, it finally emerged. Absolutely beautiful.